Photo: fox13now.com
One heartless human puts his dog in a very dangerous situation but still got to take it home at the end of the day, along with a citation from the police and a verbal warning that the next time might result in animal cruelty charges.
It happened in a parking lot in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, where Officer Kevin Salmon responded to a call of an animal making a lot of noise from inside one of the parked cars. He arrived at the scene and sat with his eye on the vehicle for a full hour, hoping the owner would eventually return, he reveals in a chat with Fox13.
“He was showing signs of, not duress, but needing to vacate the vehicle,” Officer Salmon explains. “The dog was obviously wound up and agitated from being in the car. I wasn’t willing to risk the dog’s safety over leaving him in the car in sub-freezing temperatures the rest of the day. I sat there and watched the dog for an hour hoping the owner would respond.”
Indeed, the temperature outside was freezing. The dog had no water or food or blankets inside, and a couple of the windows had been left cracked open. The owner would later tell Salmon this with some pride, as if he had taken precautions to ensure the dog’s safety, but as the Officer points out, given the weather, this only made things worse.
When Salmon saw that the owner wasn’t returning to the car, he broke into the car and took the dog to headquarters, where it spent the rest of the day eating and playing. The owner eventually came to recover it and admitted that he left it locked in the car for the entire day while he was out skiing. His first thought had been to leave it alone at home but, he said, that would have meant the dog would have bothered the neighbors with its barking.
Officer Salmon believes the man will never make the same mistake again.
“This is going to be a good learning experience for him and I don’t anticipate having the same problem,” he says. “If people would treat their dogs more like their grandmothers – you’re not going to leave your grandma in a car in the winter time all day long while you go skiing.”
Leaving pets or children in locked cars in cold weather is just as dangerous as leaving them inside hot cars, the Officer points out.
“He was showing signs of, not duress, but needing to vacate the vehicle,” Officer Salmon explains. “The dog was obviously wound up and agitated from being in the car. I wasn’t willing to risk the dog’s safety over leaving him in the car in sub-freezing temperatures the rest of the day. I sat there and watched the dog for an hour hoping the owner would respond.”
Indeed, the temperature outside was freezing. The dog had no water or food or blankets inside, and a couple of the windows had been left cracked open. The owner would later tell Salmon this with some pride, as if he had taken precautions to ensure the dog’s safety, but as the Officer points out, given the weather, this only made things worse.
When Salmon saw that the owner wasn’t returning to the car, he broke into the car and took the dog to headquarters, where it spent the rest of the day eating and playing. The owner eventually came to recover it and admitted that he left it locked in the car for the entire day while he was out skiing. His first thought had been to leave it alone at home but, he said, that would have meant the dog would have bothered the neighbors with its barking.
Officer Salmon believes the man will never make the same mistake again.
“This is going to be a good learning experience for him and I don’t anticipate having the same problem,” he says. “If people would treat their dogs more like their grandmothers – you’re not going to leave your grandma in a car in the winter time all day long while you go skiing.”
Leaving pets or children in locked cars in cold weather is just as dangerous as leaving them inside hot cars, the Officer points out.
Google News